The Center for Biofilm Engineering

A Friendly Guide to Biofilm Basics & the CBE

5.  What is the CBE’s strategy for meeting its goals?

The CBE’s strategy for reaching its identified goals has been to create a seamless research-industry-education program from what began as three separate, but related, programs. Over the years, we have developed a process which brings together multi-disciplinary teams to focus on research projects. This process is guided by leaders in each of the three CBE activity areas. The CBE Research Director, aided by faculty Principal Investigators, oversees the quality and integration of CBE research efforts. The Industrial Development Coordinator is the CBE’s resident industrial advocate, representing industrial interests and fostering productive relationships between industry and the university. The Education Committee oversees the programs that bring students into the team research process. Research teams consist of at least one faculty research leader, at least one industrial representative, plus graduate and undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines. In addition, the Center promotes and encourages communication between teams in different research areas. By the time CBE students have finished their tenure at the Center, they have developed skills which make them more employable in industrial and academic settings. They have worked directly with industrial people, helped to plan research projects, learned professional laboratory skills, practiced communicating their research results to a variety of audiences, and gained an understanding of how to use a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving. A vital element in this education process is student-student mentoring, particularly between graduate and undergraduate students.

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